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W. Water Polo Splits Pair Over Weekend

Crimson routs lowly Conneticut College, falls to Brown

Connecticut College proved to be a less formidable opponent than Brown and the Crimson easily brushed the Camels aside in a 12-3 victory.

Against Conneticut College, Harvard varied its lineup, mixing formations to see how well they worked together and allowing certain swimmers to compete out of position.

“We were able to put in a lot of players, keep the movement going,” Teresa Codini said. “The goalies got to play in the field. That was just a fun game.”

Despite the lack of pressure, the Crimson still avoided sloppiness and played with the squad’s usual attacking style.

“We didn’t come out really weak and slow,” said junior goaltender Elana Miller. “We played our type of game.”

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After getting off to a slow start earlier this season, Harvard is finally beginning to turn its fortune around, correcting many of the weaknesses that have plagued the squad.

Due to lack of training, counterattack goals doomed the Crimson to undesirable results earlier this season, but Harvard completely shut down both opponents this weekend in that regard, forcing them to score in a more settled offensive attack.

“It’s not just speed, but reaction time that we’ve been working on,” Miller said. “We’ve also been practicing not just watching the goal go in the net but swimming back to our end right away.”

The team chemistry, which was noticeably absent earlier in the season, has also improved, allowing the Crimson squad to work as a cohesive unit, rather than a group of individuals.

“We have been weeks or months behind other teams,” Teresa Codini said. “So it’s been a real struggle to get organized, in shape and to build a team from individual players.”

“This weekend our verbal and non-verbal communication was a lot better,” she added.

The Harvard team looks to continue its upward climb as it makes a west coast swing beginning March 22 at the Pomona Invitational.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.

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